ShriKant Vashishtha

xml-utilities : High Level XML Java Utility APIs

ShriKant Vashishtha · May 26, 2012 · 2 Comments

I have been working on Java with XML since 2002. It used to be quite confusing and complex to get the value of a tag for example as it required to get into Node level. Here’s an example:

[xml]
<books>
<book>
<title>Book1</title>
<prod id="33-657" media="paper"></prod>
<chapter name="Introduction to XML">
<para>What is HTML</para>
<para>What is XML</para>
</chapter>
<chapter name="XML Syntax">
<para>Elements must have a closing tag</para>
<para>Elements must be properly nested</para>
</chapter>
</book>
<book>
<title>Book2</title>
…
…
</book>
</books>
[/xml]

From functional point of view, I may be interested to get book names. So instead of going into familiar low-level Element and Node route, here’s what I prefer:

QuickTip : Github Multiple Accounts Access with ssh

ShriKant Vashishtha · May 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Let’s say we have two github accounts named “shrikant-home” and “shrikant-work”.

I would like to access both accounts from ssh.

I hope you have already created public and private keys for both github accounts and added in the ssh settings as mentioned at http://help.github.com/mac-set-up-git/

Now create a file named ~/.ssh/config file and make following entries

QuickTip : Editing Gradle Scripts with Textmate

ShriKant Vashishtha · May 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment

You need to associate ‘.gradle’ extension with groovy as follows:

First if not done already, install groovy textmate bundle from http://groovy.codehaus.org/TextMate
In Textmate, open “Bundles –> Bundle Editor –> Edit Languages –> Groovy” and change as follows:
[groovy]
fileTypes = ( ‘groovy’, ‘gvy’);
[/groovy]
to
[groovy]
fileTypes = ( ‘groovy’, ‘gvy’, ‘gradle’ );
[/groovy]

In order to run gradle scripts from Textmate use bundle from https://github.com/alkemist/gradle.tmbundle

Building Soft Skills of Agile Team – Key to Real Success

ShriKant Vashishtha · May 9, 2012 · 1 Comment

It’s easy to work in isolation as nobody bothers you. It still works when you work in cubicle like structures where you speak when you really need to. People need to come to your cubicle to reach you. I may want to communicate through emails even though I know you are sitting just next to me.

Having said that, through experience, we all know that it all boils down to inefficiency, huge time taken to finish a simple thing, long email trails which sometimes never reach to a conclusion, a middle management whose sole purpose is to manage the communication through layers.

Not only software world but also corporate world is moving towards collaboration, no-cubicle culture, team-work and no heroism culture. All that is fine and in general it makes sense also, but as professionals are we prepared or trained on how to deal with humans or different human behaviours? While working with many Agile projects, I could see that problem hindering project success is not essentially technical but soft skills. Agile promotes pair-programming but doesn’t teach on how to deal with certain individuals or the way they work.
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How to break requirements into user-stories

ShriKant Vashishtha · May 6, 2012 · 3 Comments

It’s easy to talk in terms of the user-stories but when it comes to create them, it may be a daunting task to break features into smaller functional chunks. This is not very specific to Agile only as the same can be practised in Waterfall projects too. There it helps in identifying and prioritising the smaller chunks of the functionalities which essentially provide business value within short span of time.

Context

The presentation is mainly for people who are moving away from waterfall and adopting Agile. The problem is changing the functional-specification specific mindset into one which could think and appreciate smaller functional chunks. For these people, thinking in terms of smaller user-stories becomes a challenge. This presentation aims to help them. At the same time, it’s useful for people who already work in Agile projects.